On the battlefield of the southern front, when the Chinese regular army, guerrilla army, security forces and Japanese puppet army were fighting in the dark and bleeding, the northern Jiangsu region was calm on the surface, but secretly there was an undercurrent surging.

The troops of the northern front under the command of Commander Yu Xuezhong launched a large-scale offensive against the devils in Tongcheng and Tai'an, while the southern front Gaoyou, Yancheng, Chuxian and other places were also in tense fighting.

Most of the main forces of the devil infantry mixed with the 12th Brigade and the 13th Infantry mixed with the 13th Brigade stationed in the area near northern Jiangsu were transferred north or sent south for reinforcements.

As a result, the four or five counties near Huaiyin, where Yang Ling and the others were located, became weak areas controlled by the Japanese puppet army, and only a small number of puppet army troops remained.

After Yang Ling led the officers and men of the Third Guerrilla Detachment to take advantage of the devil's inattention and recover Huaiyin with lightning speed, he did not stop there.

On the second day after the recovery of Huaiyin, Yang Ling set his sights on the vast areas of nearby counties such as Siyang, Muyang, and Guannan.

Of course, Yang Ling's idea at this moment is to expand his strength in a short period of time, after all, he has captured Huaiyin, which seems to be beautiful, but it also puts them on fire.

As long as the little devils have their hands free, then they will definitely send heavy troops to clean them up, after all, they directly threaten the Jinpu Railway and the Grand Canal transportation line that run through northern Jiangsu, which will kill the little devils.

But what Yang Ling didn't expect was that the devil would have time to take care of him wherever he realized, and he couldn't take care of it anywhere else. After all, the junction of the two strategic groups of North China and Central China, although it seems dangerous, is also a gap zone.

In four or five counties and hundreds of villages in this area, the devils have organized a large number of maintenance associations and plainclothes teams in various places.

However, in the vast rural areas, the strength of the devils is still very weak, because the troops are stretched, most of the devils have been withdrawn.

So much so that many important towns only left a few little devil town scenes, and they were assisted by pseudo-police and a small number of puppet soldiers.

The devils are the ones who have a grand plan in these occupied areas, and like Manchuria, they implement a policy of using China to contain China.

According to the plan of the little devils, it is necessary to form a fairly powerful security force and divide troops to garrison various places, so that the devil soldiers can be drawn out to carry out combat missions.

After all, the little devil is an island country, and the potential for war is also limited, and after fighting so many battles, although they have all been victorious, the losses of the troops are not small, especially the battles of Taierzhuang and Wanjialing, tens of thousands of people have filled in.

At present, on the one hand, the little devils are actively mobilizing domestic school-age young people to join the army to make up for the casualties on the front line, and on the other hand, they hope to form puppet army units, so that the garrisons in various places can return to the battlefield with their hands free.

However, the devil's plan could not keep up with the changes, and in the face of the repeated resistance struggles in the occupied area, their plan to form a puppet army was progressing slowly, and many troops were still stuck on the number, and there was no one at all.

Now in the face of the large-scale counteroffensive of the Chinese army, many puppet troops have a name and a fart, and sometimes a security battalion has less than 100 people.

It will be difficult for them to defend the town, let alone go out and fight the guerrillas.

In the past, when the main force of the devils was stationed nearby, there was no guerrilla dare to fight such towns controlled by the Japanese puppet army.

But now that the main forces of the devils have been transferred, then those towns with a small number of garrisons have become fat.

"Except for the county seat, all villages and towns have been recovered!"

Yang Ling is also a bold master of the arts, in order to enhance his influence and rapidly expand his strength, he sent out a small team.

There are many enemies in the county, and the fortifications are strong and not easy to attack, Yang Ling is not ready to fight, in case he stabs the hornet's nest, and provokes the devils, he immediately sends troops to encircle and suppress, but he makes a commotion.

Therefore, Yang Ling's goal is the vast rural area, as long as the rural area is controlled, even if the puppet army guards the county seat, the lonely city will not be able to set off any storms.

There are not many enemies in villages and towns, and the small detachments they send out can be regarded as troops that have fought battles, and it is natural to be able to deal with these weak puppet armies and puppet police.

In addition to sending countless small detachments to continuously attack around, Yang Ling also put the work of integrating nearby armed forces on the agenda.

Letters written in the name of the 9th Guerrilla Column of the Sulu Theater were delivered to the nearby armed forces through various channels.

These armed forces include the so-called joint defence forces formed in the villages, as well as village self-defence units, militias, and small groups of dispersed regular armies remaining in the area.

These armed forces are characterized by a wide range of distribution, and their respective forces are very weak, with a maximum of one or two hundred people, and a minimum of only three or five people.

What's more, the weaponry is extremely poor, and some village self-defense forces only have a few earthen guns, and even use cold weapons such as red tassel guns, broadswords, and hoes.

They are scattered all over the place, and their respective forces are very weak, and they still have their own contradictions and gaps with each other, which gives the devils and the puppet army a chance to break through.

Although these armed forces are widely distributed in rural areas, they do not pose any threat to the devil puppet army, and many of them are even bought by the devil puppet army and oppress their own people in turn.

Now that the main force of the little devil is not there, Yang Ling naturally wants to seize the opportunity to integrate these forces and make them the backbone of the fight against the devil.

Yang Ling offered generous conditions, and all those who came to Huaiyin to attend the meeting were given guns and food, which attracted many people.

Soon after Yang Ling released the news, various spontaneously formed self-defense forces, guerrillas, and anti-Japanese vanguard troops sent people to Huaiyin to contact Yang Ling.

In the face of these anti-Japanese armed forces, Yang Ling did not refuse to come, treated them with good wine and meat, and fulfilled his promise when he left, giving them fast guns.

The troops under Yang Ling's command have now all been disguised as devils' 38 rifles, with three bullet boxes, a bayonet, a water bottle, and suede shoes.

Even the cotton military uniform on his body was changed from the military uniform of the little devil, who made Yang Ling and them poor.

Pull off the clothes of the captured and killed little devils, wash them, change their style, and dye them, and this will become a ready-made guerrilla uniform.

Although it looks nondescript, it is a good thing, and the little devils' military uniforms are slightly modified, which is much more majestic than the coarse cloth military uniforms they sewn themselves.

Yang Ling and they are now almost all-Japanese equipment, and all the previous Chinese formal rifles, Hanyang-made, old sleeves and other obsolete weapons have all been sent out.

It's not that Yang Ling likes the new and hates the old, but after being equipped with unified Japanese-style equipment, this ammunition is unified, and there is no transport team and arsenal to fight the little devils, and the supply is relatively convenient.

And if they still use their previous types of guns, first of all, bullets of different calibers will cause people a headache, and there is a serious shortage of bullets, which will greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Although they can't use these guns and ammunition that have been eliminated, those weapons and equipment that are more backward and ammunition are more scarce are thirsty for knowledge.

Under the wanton delivery of Yang Ling's weapons, equipment, and food supplies, dozens of nearby armed forces of various types were quickly gathered under his command.

Although the quality of these armed forces is uneven, and the number is more or less, there are more than 4,000 people in several counties.